Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television
Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television
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当代美国电视的叙事复杂性
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发表时间：
2006
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通讯作者：
Jason Mittell
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作者：
Jason Mittell
延边的是充斥美国电视节目表的犯罪程序剧、家庭情景喜剧和真人秀比赛，在过去的二十年里，一种新的娱乐电视形式出现了，受到评论界和大众的好评。这种电视叙事模式的独特之处在于它使用了叙事的复杂性，作为传统的情节和系列形式的替代品，这些形式自诞生以来一直是大多数美国电视的典型。我们可以在最近几十年的热门作品中看到这种创新的叙事形式，从宋飞到迷失，西翼到X档案，以及广受好评但收视率受到挑战的节目，如Arrested Development，Veronica Mars，Boomtown和Firefly。HBO凭借《黑道家族》、《六英尺之下》、《抑制你的热情》和《火线》等叙事复杂的节目建立了自己的声誉和订户基础。显然，这些节目提供了一个替代传统的电视叙事，这篇文章的目的是图表的形式属性，这种讲故事的模式，探索其独特的乐趣和模式的理解，并提出了一系列的原因，它出现在20世纪90年代。在试图理解当代美国电视的叙事实践时，我们可以将叙事复杂性视为一种独特的叙事模式，正如大卫·博德威尔对电影叙事的分析所建议的那样。对博德维尔来说，“叙事模式是一套历史上独特的叙事构建和理解规范”，它跨越了体裁、特定的创作者和艺术运动，形成了一个连贯的实践类别。Bordwell概述了特定的电影模式，如经典好莱坞，艺术电影和历史唯物主义，所有这些都包含不同的讲故事策略，同时仍然相互参考，并建立在其他模式的基础上。克里斯汀·汤普森：当代美国电视中的叙事复杂性
longside the host of procedural crime dramas, domestic sitcoms, and reality competitions that populate the American television schedule, a new form of entertainment television has emerged over the past two decades to both critical and popular acclaim. This model of television storytelling is distinct for its use of narrative complexity as an alternative to the conventional episodic and serial forms that have typified most American television since its inception. We can see such innovative narrative form in popular hits of recent decades from Seinfeld to Lost, West Wing to The X-Files, as well as in critically beloved but ratings-challenged shows like Arrested Development, Veronica Mars, Boomtown, and Firefly. HBO has built its reputation and subscriber base upon narratively complex shows, such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Wire. Clearly, these shows offer an alternative to conventional television narrative—the purpose of this essay is to chart out the formal attributes of this storytelling mode, explore its unique pleasures and patterns of comprehension, and suggest a range of reasons for its emergence in the 1990s. In trying to understand the storytelling practices of contemporary American television, we might consider narrative complexity as a distinct narrational mode, as suggested by David Bordwell’s analysis of film narrative. For Bordwell, a “narrational mode is a historically distinct set of norms of narrational construction and comprehension,” one that crosses genres, specific creators, and artistic movements to forge a coherent category of practices. Bordwell outlines specific cinematic modes such as classical Hollywood, art cinema, and historical materialism, all of which encompass distinct storytelling strategies while still referencing one another and building on the foundations of other modes. Kristin Thompson has exNarrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television jason mittell